358 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



they rarely sit well for a shot, and he would be a 

 butcher who fired at them, even were they crowded, 

 but to lose both dead and wounded. For in a fog 

 so dense that the birds lose their wits, the feel of 

 the shore could not be lost to pick up the spoil. 



Seventy yards is a fair range at which to fire, but 

 sixty is a better ; and if you see when pushing up 

 that the fowl are tame and unobservant, busy feed- 

 ing, asleep, or, best of all, resting on ice (see plate 

 opposite), do not think fifty yards, if by chance so 

 close, too near. Should they still be unmindful 

 and this is precious seldom at that distance you 

 may startle them by making a noise. Even then, 

 with Duck and Wigeon, especially the former, 

 there is plenty of time to take deliberate aim at the 

 thickest cluster just as they rise. Fowl on the water 

 and away from land are always difficult to judge 

 whether in shot or not by a man lying prone in a 

 punt ; but if eyes and feathers can be discerned, and 

 ducks told from mallards, he is not much astray. 



If near land, a shooter can judge better how far 

 they may be, by comparing their distance to that of 

 stones and points near the shore, such as the width 

 of bays, or the length in imaginary paces from rock 

 to rock that the birds may be opposite or in line 

 with, as he draws within shot. 



Quick and accurate sight when fowling a knack 

 in itself is of more need than the actual power of 

 seeing, as seeing goes. Take a man with excellent 

 eye-power, he will point you out a ship just visible 

 on the horizon, and even tell its rig ; or an indistinct 

 mountain-top which, do your best, you cannot dis- 

 cern. Now take him into a ploughed field or a 



